St. Mary's Pirates get big 2nd half in win against Florence Huskies

St. Mary's outscores Florence 39-11 to ease to victory

Florence senior Ty Jones makes a move in the paint against St. Mary's on Thursday in Huskies Gymnasium. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

Huskies junior Alec Lucero during the first half against the St. Mary's Pirates on Thursday in Huskies Gymnasium. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

FLORENCE — From the final score, you'd never know that Florence was feeling great at halftime.

Then the second half happened, when St. Mary's went on three different lopsided runs.

The Pirates closed on an 18-0 run to handle the Huskies 67-31 in a Tri-Peaks League game in Huskies Gymnasium.

Florence trailed by only eight at halftime, a big accomplishment for the struggling Huskies against a team that just knocked off the top-ranked team in the state.

"It was probably one of the best first halves of our season," Huskies head coach Mark Marquez said. "Everything was perfect. We had some mistakes, we had some turnovers, but to hang with a team like that ... was everything that we'd hoped it would be."

Of course, St. Mary's coach Mark Beranek had a different take on the first half.

"We fouled too much, got them to the line, and they made eight of their 20 points from the free throw line," Beranek said.

After two free throws from the Huskies to start the third quarter, the Pirates went on a 10-0 run to make the score 38-22.

Florence responded with a run of their own — Dixon Lawson nailed a 3-pointer followed by buckets from Ty Jones and Michael Zotto — to trim the lead to nine.

That was it for the Huskies on the offensive side of the floor. The Pirates ended the game by going on a 26-2 run.

Marquez said his team's defense fell apart in the second half and St. Mary's took advantage of it, especially in the post area.

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Pirates senior Ryan Englert had his way in the paint. During a 9-0 run, Englert scored eight of the Pirates' points.

Englert had a game-high 20 points and pulled down four rebounds. Juniors Ben Padrnos and Jimmy Velten both added 12.

Florence's Jones and Zotto each scored nine.

The Huskies' loss dropped them to 4-10 on the season and 2-5 in the T-PL. St. Mary's (9-5, 7-2) has won three straight including a three-point victory against then-top-ranked Colorado Springs Christian School.

Florence will play again at 4 p.m. Saturday when they travel to Buena Vista (8-4, 4-2) for another T-PL game.

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